biostudies-literatureUnknown10(7)Sieswerda EIn the Netherlands, the postal code is needed to study hospitalizations of individuals in the nationwide hospitalization register. Studying hospitalizations longitudinally becomes troublesome if individuals change address. We aimed to report on the feasibility and validity of a two-step medical record linkage approach to examine longitudinal trends in hospitalizations and mortality in a study cohort. First, we linked a study cohort of 1564 survivors of childhood cancer with the Municipal Personal Records Database (GBA) which has postal code history and mortality data available. Within GBA, we sampled a reference population matched on year of birth, gender and calendar year. Second, we extracted hospitalizations from the Hospital Discharge Register (LMR) with a date of discharge during uniqPloS onee0132444https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC4493069biostudies-literatureStudying Hospitalizations and Mortality in the Netherlands: Feasible and Valid Using Two-Step Medical Record Linkage with Nationwide Registers.PMC4493069Kremer LCCaron HNReitsma JBSieswerda EGeskus RBvan der Pal HJFont-Gonzalez AHeinen RCDijkgraaf MGvan Leeuwen FEfalseStudying Hospitalizations and Mortality in the Netherlands: Feasible and Valid Using Two-Step Medical Record Linkage with Nationwide Registers.In the Netherlands, the postal code is needed to study hospitalizations of individuals in the nationwide hospitalization register. Studying hospitalizations longitudinally becomes troublesome if individuals change address. We aimed to report on the feasibility and validity of a two-step medical record linkage approach to examine longitudinal trends in hospitalizations and mortality in a study cohort. First, we linked a study cohort of 1564 survivors of childhood cancer with the Municipal Personal Records Database (GBA) which has postal code history and mortality data available. Within GBA, we sampled a reference population matched on year of birth, gender and calendar year. Second, we extracted hospitalizations from the Hospital Discharge Register (LMR) with a date of discharge during uniq2015-01-01T00:00:00Z20152025-04-04T11:08:00.805Z2019-03-26T23:34:18ZS-EPMC44930692614798810.1371/journal.pone.0132444